The Path Home
by LovingTheOgre
Summary: He was usually the only person that waited at the particular stop until that one day when he turned twelve. At 26 Sasuke recalled that memory as though it occurred mere moments before. It was because of her; a being of loving compassion like his Mother.
1. 1 Path to the Old Oak

The Path Home

_Sera: This is a part of my one shot collection that won't necessarily stay in the tragic department-a branch off of the one no one reads. I've given up on trying to make people read that one so I'm just going to continue it for myself…so **BLAH**! (o) Anyway-this is a **Sasu**/**Hina** one shot of when they first spoke to one another-to his leaving and ultimate return… I know I usually write this couple but…what the hell! They're my favorite to write-despite them never having spoken in the manga or anime. I think they look good together and that if, (IF) they were to interact that they would indeed hit it off. Maybe not romantically but in some way…there goes the **Sasu**/**Hina** rant. I understand everyone's pairing interests and respect him or her so I would like those who don't like this couple to just keep the retching to a minimum. Ok!_

_Now moving on. This is, obviously an _**A**_lternate _**U**_niverse. There. Done. Finite. It's story time!_

--

He had hated it. All of it. Walking the same path from his home every morning to the same stop, hiding away from the sun under the cover of old oak trees thick branches alone. He was usually the only person that waited at the particular stop until that one day when he turned twelve…at twenty six Sasuke recalled that memory as though it occurred mere moments before-the recollection so clear and new to his mind and at that moment he realized, it was not because of wondrous spring season that year, nor was it because it had been his mothers birthday. No. It was because of her.

He shut his eyes in remembrance of that day.

(1) Path to the Old Oak

"Ah Itachi do I have to? It's mom's birthday…shouldn't I get to go to her grave too?" Dark eyes stared into mirror images of their own. The older of the two looked down at his younger brother and sighed.

"You have an exam today little brother-one that you cannot miss. It's enough that you missed so much school last year when _it_ happened…"

Sasuke shrugged, annoyed. "I know…it's just that this is the first time that on mom's birthday that we aren't all together."

"It will be just like the year dad died…things changed that day too…only this time it isn't mother shooing you away to school it's me."

Sasuke nodded. He turned towards the coat hanger and pulled on his jacket. Itachi was right, Sasuke mused, things eventually had to change. This was what was meant to be.

Sasuke was seven years old when his father had died in an accident on the job. It wasn't as though it were unheard of-a cop dying on the job-and when it happened he didn't fully grasp what _"passing away was"_. When he had seen his mother crying nights after it happened he was confused. Was he supposed to cry to? Why? His father was with God-he was in peace in Heaven.

Itachi was thirteen then and having a much better grasp of things like death he explained it to him.

_'Dad's in a better place, Sasuke.'_ He had said, placing a warm palm on his brother's head. Sasuke stared up at him with big gray eyes.

_'Then why is mother crying? If Papa's in a better place then shouldn't she be happy that he's happy?'_

Itachi had sighed deeply. Looking towards the front hall noting that his mother was nowhere to be seen, he had leaned towards the seven year old and whispered to him.

_'Mother just misses him. She knows he's in peace but she misses him a lot and she's lonely without him.'_

Sasuke had nodded understanding just a little bit. That year, when it was his father's birthday-instead of going out to the movies like they always had even when he was alive-they just stayed home.

And their mother had just sat in the front living room facing the front window all day, sitting in their father's chair…as though he would return if she sat right there. She did that for four years until she died…on that very chair.

"Sasuke…are you listening?"

He stared up at his brother and blinked.

"Oh…sorry."

"I said that I'd be picking you up from school today instead of Minato." Itachi said. "I'll take you to see a movie maybe."

Sasuke nodded.

"Maybe we could go to the park?"

Itachi smiled slowly.

"The park? Sure, that'd be nice."

The Park near the old academy building was the earliest and happiest memory the brothers' had together. During the summers, when both parents were alive, they would go off to the park. A residual longing passed through their features for a bittersweet moment-Itachi smiled sadly.

"You're going to be late."

"Yeah, whatever." Sasuke said, scratching the back of his head in an awkward sort of way-a habit he did out of sheer nervousness or mortification, their father's trait completely. "I'll see you later then."

"Later Days." Itachi said as the younger stepped through the door, lifting a hand in parting as he left. Itachi leaned against the doorframe and smiled. "What a sorrowful day." He said before stepping back and shutting the front door.

-

The dirt path along the forest looked eerily the same from the very first time Sasuke had ever taken it way back when his father was still alive six years before. He placed his hands in his jacket pockets and continued at a leisurely pace, the crunching of leaves underfoot a sound as familiar as anything he'd really ever known. The breeze picked up, smelling of wild grass, mornings dew and wild flowers.

He hated that smell, it reminded him too much of his mother. After all, the house where they lived, so very far away from the rest of town, near the forest had been her choice entirely-he remembered how happy she had been, when he was four.

They had moved from Bridge-the next town over, back to their father's hometown and upon returning, the house in which Sasuke lived in now had been recently vacant. His grandparents had owned it for all their married lives. When his grandfather Boris, had died, their grandmother could no longer bear to stay.

Their mother had agreed immediately to take it off her mother-in-law's hands, before even speaking to Sasuke's father on the matter.

_'Don't you feel it Sasuke?'_ she had asked him once-before his father's death. They had been sitting out in the veranda having lemonade one hot summer day. He remembered that the breeze carried the scent of wild flowers from the garden and the way that not only the trees branches had swayed but also his mother's long beautiful silky brown tresses flowed with that same breeze.

She had never seemed more beautiful.

_'Feel what?'_

_'Nature…the smell and sounds…it's a wonderful thing isn't it?'_

He'd never really understood what she meant but had nodded nonetheless. The forest, nature…his mothers' favorite things…

He hated it, all of it. He hated walking the same path to the same buss stop that only he seemed to take. He hated to hide in the comforting shade of the old oaks branches.

He hated it because it reminded him of his mother, his sweet dead mother. It reminded him of times the happy times he would never have again.

Sighing to himself he looked forward, only to see someone standing with their back towards him under the protection of the oaks branches.

"Hn?" He walked closer, standing almost beside the other person whom had yet to notice his existence at all.

Short dark hair greeted his vision, with long bangs covering closed eyes. A round pale face in stern concentration, pink lips between white teeth were nibbled, long black lashes rested like feathers on rounded cheeks.

A girl. A small girl perhaps his age, stood there with hands held together at her chest.

_'Pretty.'_ He thought as she began to speak.

"N…ru…n…ru…ra…" He inclined his head to the side.

Her face flushed pink.

"Naruto would you like to have Ramen with me!" She stated more then asked suddenly. Sasuke stepped back for a moment in confusion. He watched her closely. "That's it…that's all there is to it to just ask…ask…ask…ask…" She said.

_'So she's talking to herself…she hasn't even noticed me her eyes are still closed.'_

"But…" She let out with a wistful tone, almost sad Sasuke noticed. "That wont work…he doesn't even notice me…how will I ever get over him if I cant even talk to him…I don't know if I want to get over him because then everything will change right? I care so much about him and I'm afraid that if I tell him and try to get over him everything will be different…but isn't that life? Isn't everything doomed to change eventually in this world?"

Sasuke starred at her for an agonizing moment, going over her monologue in his head. Everything was doomed to change in life, she had said, not matter how much you cared for something and wished for it to remain the contingency; change was inevitable. Be it by leaving completely…things were doomed to change.

He shut his eyes in thought before turning to the girl whose eyes were still shut.

"Tell him anyway…even if everything changes does it matter? You can always find another person to make you happy if it doesn't work out." He found himself saying.

Her eyes opened, opalescent, staring into his dark gray eyes.

"W-what?"

"You heard me." He said. The bus came into view before pulling up beside them, the door swinging open with a screech. He climbed up, stopping at the top step. He turned towards the girl and extended his hand with a bored expression. "C'mon. This is the bus for school. Hurry up." He said.

The girl flushed but nonetheless took the offered hand and climbed onto the buss.

The door swung closed and the buss lurched forward leaving behind the old oak trees and everything that his mother loved behind. For a moment, after taking his seat with the strange new girl in the very back of the buss Sasuke began to not really mind.

"I'm Hinata Hyuuga." She said bowing her head slightly.

He nodded.

"Sasuke Uchiha. It's nice meeting you."

Yes, the same path to the same stop the same trees and smells that reminded him of his mother…

"I just moved from Bright City…this is such a nice place…I've never lived so far from a town before but the wilderness, the forest is so…it's a wonderful thing, isn't it?"

"Hn…"

…he really didn't mind at all.

-  
_Sera: Did you like it, hate it? Read and review but no flames please!_


	2. Path to the Old Oak

The Path Home

_Sera: I've decided to take the one shot a bit further...thanks to all the reviewers this story will actually be a full fic instead of a two shot. Hope you like the second chapter to 'The Path Home'_

_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters but the plot is mine._

-

"So you do remember that day?" Itachi asked from beside his brother. Standing against the old oak where the bus stop used to be. He inhaled deeply the clove cigarette held between his lips. "Seems like so long ago…how can you remember so clearly?"

Sasuke smiled as his eyelids lowered. For a moment he saw her face, smiling bright with the flush that seemed to always come with it. He lifted his head, facing the azure sky. "Because here, is where it's strongest." He said. "I feel her here the most."

"You feel her?"

"Yeah."

Blue smoke flew threw Itachi's nostrils and toiled far above his head in a hazy cloud. A cold breeze caught it and lifted it away into the air. He understood, he could feel her to and if he shut his eyes he could see her. He could see her standing against the oak tree with her loving smile. Opalescent eyes shimmering clear crystal blue. "I guess I understand."

"She really loved it here didn't she?" Sasuke suddenly asked his face still steered towards the sky. "After the bus stop closed she still came here and leaned against this tree until _that _happened." Sasuke opened his gray eyes.

"She did."

"Do you remember mom?" Sasuke whispered. "I do."

"So do I." Itachi said raking a pale hand through his black long hair. "She used to love this place to."

"Yeah." Sasuke laughed. "Dad used to say it was magic."

"What?"

Sasuke nodded. "He used to say that this place was magical-the whole forest created a different world outside the town. I think it was just a story for him to tell us when we were kids but maybe it was for mom too."

Itachi nodded, his gray eyes darkened to black, reminding Sasuke of a blazing storm.

"I guess."

"I told her about dad's stories, about all the magic. You know, after her accident, she called this place the dream world."

"The dream world?"

"She said that when she was hospitalized, when she dreamed for five years, that this was the place her mind had taken her to. That perhaps the magic in this place had drawn her back-to her happiest moments against this tree, and while I don't believe in magic I couldn't help but hope she was right."

Itachi nodded as he put the butt of the cigarette out on the bark of the tree creating a slight crater in the wood. When his younger brother spoke of her, of these sorts of things there was no stopping him. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, and even during the time I wasn't there to visit her when she was asleep, she said she was never lonely that Madara was there."

"Madara?"

"I don't get it either." Sasuke said. He pushed himself off the tree, lifting his arm in front of his face to shield himself from the oncoming sunlight. He stood there for a moment with his back turned to his brother, a breeze whipping at his dark hair and clothes.

"Sasuke?"

"I think that maybe the magic of this place did that for her so that until I came back-"

"Sasuke."

Sasuke turned towards the dirt path, his eyes never focusing at any particular spot. To Itachi, Sasuke seemed like the lost twelve year old he had been so many years ago. He suddenly felt very sad.

Pushing himself from the bark of the old tree he made his way to his brother, putting his hands in his jacket pockets. He smiled. "Lets go home." He said and Sasuke smiled.

"Yeah, lets go home."

--

_Sera: Don't worry the story is not finished despite it having the COMPLETE placed on it...so...I wonder if I was able to keep the same feeling from the first chapter in this one too? Does it by chance come off as sadness and longing? I hope so since it was what I was going for. Thank you to the reviewers! No flames please!_


	3. Mother's Garden

_**The Path Home**_

_**Mother's Garden**_

-

"I can't believe you're graduating!" Hinata said smiling happily. Her short indigo hair had grown past her shoulders to mid back, it swayed with the breeze catching the suns light sparkling.

"Yeah…too bad you wont be though, I was hoping to be there with you."

They were sitting on the veranda, a plate of sandwiches between them drinking iced tea. It was spring again, reminding Sasuke of when he and Hinata had first met five years before and he smiled slightly. It was a happy memory, one that he carefully placed in the back of his mind with the memories of his mother.

"Don't worry. You'll get to see her graduate next year-just think you'll be in the audience with the rest of the parents clapping happily saying _'that's my girl!' _and all that…" Itachi said from the garden. He looked odd with the hoe in his gloved hands as he worked with the flowers but it seemed also oddly natural.

"No, her father will be the one crying like that Itachi maybe even you…the way you carry on." Sasuke said with a light flush. Hinata giggled.

"Oh really? I didn't think that Hiashi would be there." Itachi said then looked at the girl beside his brother still laughing at his flushed cheeks. "Don't get me wrong Hinata, it's just that your father doesn't seem like the type to attend something like that."

"Oh no, I understand. I've already told him that he doesn't have to go. He's been very supportive of me with my appointments and hospital stays." She said. "After all it must be hard for him, since he was with mother when she was often sick too…sometimes I feel so bad for being so sickly."

Sasuke shook his head, dark tendrils of hair whipping by his face.

"Don't. It's not your fault."

"Oh I know."

Itachi shook head. He plucked an orchid from the garden, examining its soft red violet petals. Looking towards the young teenagers sitting beside one another on the veranda he smiled. '_They look good together_', he thought.

Itachi shut his eyes, inhaling the sweet perfume of the flowers he had so diligently worked on. His mind took him to days long ago, when his father had fixed the veranda just for his mother.

He could see them, sitting there and smiling like they used to, still so very much in love like the teenagers they had been when they had met. Sasuke had been so little, with a gentle smile on his face. Sitting in his mothers lap playing with her long dark hair.

_'Itachi are you sure?'_ His father had asked, his hand in Mikoto's hair. _'A garden is an awful lot to take care of for a six year old.'_

_'Oh I don't know Fugaku, I think he can handle himself. Besides a garden would be a splendid idea.'_ She said and almost as to add his own opinion the one year old in her lap squealed happily clapping his chubby little hands.

_'See dad! Even Sasuke wants me to, so can I?'_

Dark gray eyes, aged slightly at the corners creased as Fugaku smiled brightly and almost goofily as he nodded, brown hair falling into his eyes.

It had always amazed Itachi, even when he was small, the physical differences between himself and his father. Although he'd inherited the deep creases below his eyes from him the similarities always ended there.

He had not inherited the deep olive skin or the coffee brown hair.

Just like Sasuke, he looked like his mother.

_'Yeah! So what kinda flowers should I grow? Oh! Should I do tomatoes to? Sasuke likes those.'_

The infant, Sasuke, squealed happily again his chubby little hands flying up and waving.

_'So tomatoes and oh I know! Orchids are mama's favorite so orchids too. Definitely orchids.'_

So it was no wonder why now that orchids were his favorite.

"Hey, Hinata, do you want this?" He lifted the plucked flower, holding it up so that she could see. "It's pretty isn't it?"

Hinata stared at the flower; flush coloring her face deeply, beside her Sasuke scowled although in his eyes mirth began to surface. He poked the girl's side. "You _know_ you want it."

She nodded; her eyes gleaming as she lightly jumped of the veranda and walked towards Itachi's out stretched hand, Sasuke following close behind her. "Thank you. No one's ever given me a flower before."

Sasuke smiled, putting his hands on her shoulders and squeezing. He seemed happier about the gift then Hinata did. Itachi couldn't figure why.

"Well now Itachi and I will have to fix that."

"Yes."

Hinata nodded, taking the flower into her small hand and examined it carefully, holding it as though it would shatter. "Fix it?"

"Yes."

The brother's laughed slightly at the blushing girl, as memories of happier time came to mind of their once _whole_ family. Again the thought of their mother came to mind, happy as she held a bouquet of orchids in her hands, picked from her children's hands themselves on one of her birthdays.

Now, there was no reason to sit there in the garden, mourning the times they would pick these flowers and arrange them for someone no longer there.

It was easy for them to give Hinata their mother's orchids. Mikoto would have wanted it that way they figured…besides, seeing Hinata smile while holding them always made their days a little brighter.

The Uchiha brother's began to feel like a real family again.

-

_**Sera: Woot! Chapter 3! I know there was a skip in years, but the story will probably progress this way. It also jumps from past to present. Chapter two was Sasuke and Itachi, as adults recalling Hinata and their mother. Flashbacks are a big part of it. I hope you enjoyed it. **_

_**It was easy to place Hinata into this type of particular role. She is, in the manga portrayed as kind of weak…so making her sickly here was simple-a lot of you probably already know where it will lead Hinata and some of you will be right however it will have an impact that will overcome the cliché-ness…I hope.**_

_**Review please but no flames…I hate those!**_


	4. Maddie, Kioko & Eiri: Happily Ever After

**The Path Home**

**Sera: The conclusion to an old story that I had forgotten completely about. Sorry about that.**

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The front door was opened, eased slowly as to not startle the guests already waiting inside and even from the distance between them Sasuke could still hear their voices ringing with good humor in his ears. A child's voice suddenly sounded, laughing loudly with almost a sputtering guffaw.

"Maddie, I'm home!" He shouted loudly. The voices suddenly turned to whispers and the sound of soft thumping grew louder. A child with curled chocolate brown hair came round the corner his opalescent eyes shimmering brightly as they landed on Sasuke who suddenly felt like prey. Had Sasuke ever made his father feel that way?

"Poppy…!" The child shouted as he made full contact with his father, his small arms wrapping around Sasuke's middle. "I was worried when Uncle Tachi got here first-he said that you stayed at the tree and to wait so I wait and wait and wait. You were gone forever!" Maddie said with a light scowl, suddenly his lightly tanned olive skin flushed and his milky eyes watered. "I thought you weren't coming back and that's bad because it's grandpa's birthday."

"Oh I wouldn't miss it." Sasuke chuckled, brushing back some of the lose curls from his sons forehead. He got on his knees so that he could look at Maddie at almost eye level. "I was just thinking."

"Thinking?"

"Yes. After all, you are going to be seven soon." He said with a half smile.

"Was you...OH! You was thinking of my present? Or a party?" Maddie's light eyes widened, his pearl pink lips forming an O as the implications of his fathers' words began to sink in. "Can I have a party, Poppy?"

"Did you clean your room?"

"Yeah huh I did an' I helped Mr. Okazaki mow the lawn an' then I helped Mrs. Okazaki wash the dishes."

Sasuke laughed. Maddie's exhilarated expression was adorably laughable and he imagined the Okazaki's, whom Sasuke paid to watch over the large house, humoring the six year old. Maddie didn't care to understand that it was Mr. Okazaki's job to do the lawn work and Mrs. Okazaki's job to clean the house-oddly it was a trait Maddie had in common with Sasuke's own mother.

_That Mikoto Doujo_, grandmother Uchiha used to say using his mother's maiden name always in distaste, _that insufferable girl always helping the servants-they're paid to clean!_

It was endearing in his mother, who offered a helping hand to anyone always despite what grandmother Uchiha thought, it was an endearing quality in his own son-whom he often saw both his parents in; his fathers' strength and sense of adventure and justice and his mothers' compassion and love for nature.

Scooping the six year old up in one fluent movement Sasuke ambled towards the front room where his grandmother regally sat, her kimono flawless as always and shimmering deep gold and intricately woven cranes.

"Ah, Sasuke, I was beginning to wonder whether you would return at all." She said; her voice low and slightly husky-like he'd always remembered even in the days of his childhood. There were two women flanked at either side of her like always both older women with strained expressions with their hands folded neatly in their laps and their lips set in grim expression. "You've kept the place wonderful as I thought you would."

"Yes." He said with a crooked smile. "I remembered how much you loved it and how mother loved it too."

"Ah…Doujo…yes she would have loved to see it." The Uchiha head said though Sasuke imagined she really meant something along the lines of _'She would have loved to have seen you and your family and your children.'_

His mother would have loved Maddie. He was every bit the sight of his father with his coloring in hair and skin and his eyes were something to behold opalescent but strong like his the perfect mixture of Sasuke and his own wife.

"I was just telling grandmother about the garden." Itachi said, reclining on the loveseat. "The tomatoes are growing wonderfully."

"Oh yes, and the orchids are quite exquisite." Itachi's own wife said from beside him, hands rested on her swollen belly. Ayame, older then his brother by a good four years making her 35- appeared so much younger then her youthful husband. They had met back in the days when Itachi was still a high school student and while Ayame still worked at her father's restaurant preparing various dishes but mainly ramen and going to college classes both having little time for love but finding it in each other.

The attraction had been instantaneous and the relationship had started almost immediately after their meeting-however secretly of course, lasting for years until Itachi graduated from high school. They were married straight away after Itachi's 18th birthday and pregnant right after that.

Now they were on their way to their fourth child a boy, Itachi thought, but really Sasuke believed another girl, not that his older brother would mind at all. A troupe of brown haired dark eyed daughters all talented and beautiful and kind like their mother but strong willed, proud and beyond intelligent like their father. Sasuke's perfect nieces all guarded by Maddie who treated them like sister anyway.

"Ah yes. Though I suppose that you tend the garden yourself then, Ayame. Since the Missus of the house is too ill to do so herself." Grandmother Uchiha stated. There was no sneer in her voice when she mentioned Sasuke's wife, not like before. "That girl is so sickly it is a wonder she was able to give my grandson any heirs at all."

"I assure you that my wife's health is turning better grandmother. Why, she was ready to come from the hospital today just to greet you. I had to all but beg for her to stay one more day for the doctors to be sure of her condition."

"I see." She said in thought. "So she is doing better?"

"Yes, she and the child are doing fine."

She smiled though it was highly uncharacteristic on her wrinkled face. He wondered how his grandfather had ever been able to live with a woman with so many veiled emotions. How had his Grandfather reacted when she smiled for the first time? She was always so strict and stern.

"So she will be returning tomorrow?"

"Yes." He said. Maddie wriggled in his arms itching to snuggle in his great grandmother's arms whom he was staring at lovingly-this too was odd to both Uchiha brother's whom had never in their childhood warmed up to Grandmother Uchiha.

"And the sex of the child, do you know yet?" She asked as Maddie, whom Sasuke had finally set on the floor, had climbed into her lap, laying his head on her chest and contentedly sighed.

"We wanted it to be a surprise-though she feels that it is a girl."

"Another great granddaughter, how wonderful!" She laughed. "In the old days the Uchiha had hard times having daughters, did you know that? I was lucky enough to have Arabelle but," She placed a hand on her stomach and wistfully sighed. "She did not live long after the eighth month and died in the womb."

Later that night after Grandmother and her ladies had gone, Itachi and Sasuke had decided to sit on the veranda and have a drink. Ayame had decided that she would stay with Maddie in the front room and read him stories in place of Sasuke's own wife who could not read to him.

"So she's really doing better?"

"Yes," Sasuke said staring up into the shimmering star filled sky. "though for a while I was afraid she would fall into another coma-you remember how it was before when she fell into her illness. She didn't wake up for almost five years and wasn't even awake for Maddie's birth."

"Yes I remember. She must still feel such guilt for not being there for five years of his life." Itachi took a long sip. "Or being with you though I imagine now she feels she is making up for it with this second child."

"Probably."

"Remember he graduation?"

"How could I forget, you were taking pictures like a mad man. 'Pose like this!' 'No, put your arms around her like this, Sasuke.' And let us not forget 'Give him a big ol' kiss.' That is my favorite."

"Hn, but it did make a nice picture."

"Yes, he father was ever so pleased." Sasuke chuckled.

"I don't see why he would be so upset. By that time you were both already married and expecting Maddie."

"We weren't aware of Maddie yet." Sasuke said. "The marriage…that was the most unexpected thing we had ever done. The most spontaneous and probably stupid-after all she was still a high school girl."

"Ah but once you both realized you were in love you didn't wait for any form of permission or planning anything extravagant or for her to already graduate. You were in love."

"Married at 18…mother probably rolled in her grave."

"Father maybe but not mother."

Sasuke shook his head.

"No, it was definitely Mother. Don't you remember-Father was the romantic one."

Itachi was still for a moment registering it and reviewing old memories of their parents that, with each year grew more faded and harder to remember with age. He nodded. "Ah yes, now I remember."

"So, you're also having another child and quite soon…are you worried?" Sasuke asked trying not to convey his own worries.

"Worried about the excessive color of pink maybe but not about the birth of the child or Ayame's health from what the doctors say both are doing very well right now."

"Do you really believe it will be a boy?"

Itachi shrugged. "I hope it will be a boy but if it is a girl then what can I do? I will love her more then the world. Another on the long list of important women in my life: Ayame, Kanna, Hanna, and Anna. Though not necessarily in that particular order, of course." He smirked. "Now that I think about it another girl wouldn't be so bad."

"Hn…"

"You're worried." Itachi said suddenly. "She'll be alright, they will both be alright."

Sasuke turned his gray eyes to the opened window staring at Ayame who kissed the top of Maddie's head getting lost in the wild brown curls as the boy's hands rested on her belly. Itachi's eldest daughter, Kanna, sat on the table beside Maddie. Her small pale fingers lightly pulling a curl then letting go watching fascinated as it sprigged as she released it. Hanna sat in a chair, reading another book consumed by it's story that she barley noticed her round glasses slipping down her nose until Anna, the youngest-younger then Maddie- pushed them up the bridge of her older sisters' nose. Her gray eyes, inherited from her uncle Sasuke, were bright as she watched in fascination at Hanna's roaming eyes.

Sasuke wondered if it would ever appear that way with his own family a bustle of children and a happy wife with swollen belly waiting for him to come home from a long days work with a kiss ready for him.

"Do you remember mother's miscarriage?"

"How can I forget?" Itachi said leaning back on his hands. He was flushed slightly, buzzed but not too drunk-which meant he'd answer anything Sasuke asked even distasteful hurtful things like now. "It was right after father died." He began in monotone. "She had been crying for days on end forgetting to get out of bed or to eat. I remember having to actually shout at her about it.

"'_What about the baby, you need to eat for the baby.'_ I used to say and then she would nod and eat at least a bit of food. It was on one of the days that I went to school, figuring that she was getting better-and I had called Uncle Minato informing him that I would pick you up from school, that it was no problem.

"You remember don't you? We had gone to the peer with Deidara to play some of the arcade games before coming home. You had won a giant stuffed rabbit you'd named Hoppity and I had won a bag of small plush toys. We were going to put it into the nursery for our baby sister that was why we'd gone to the arcade with Deidara.

"When we got home it was dark inside. Not a single light was one-we'd only been one hour late in getting home so I was worried and sent you to your room with the toys." He took a deep breath. "I walked up the stairs, it was dark and oddly cold and I remember seeing only one light on at the end of the hall. The bathroom light reflecting off the polished dark wood floor and walls because the door was opened, left ajar in what must have been her haste.

"She was bent over slightly, sitting on the toilet a wretched pathetic mess of a woman that I could not recognize as my mother cradling herself. She suddenly looked up at me, her eyes almost vacant, black pools of total and complete emptiness. And then she spoke and sobbed-she was bleeding-she said. That was when I noticed the panties by the door covered in congealing blood. She must have been lying in bed all day crying again.

"I hefted her up from the toilet, there was more blood there, and assisted her to the bedroom before calling an ambulance and then Uncle Minato-he wasn't home."

Sasuke nodded, recalling that horrifying day. "Deidara came over to watch me and you went to the hospital with mother."

"Yes. It was then we learned she'd had a miscarriage though I had already assumed the moment she said there was blood."

Both brothers were silent; the only sound was the laughing from inside the house from the children pulling them from their ghoulish memories of their mother's hurtful past into the present time where they were happy and their mother was dead.

It was then, Sasuke realized with a heavy heart that after their mother had lost that baby she had never ever smiled again.

The Uchiha's were unlucky having daughters…until Itachi and Ayame at least.

* * *

"Mommy!" Maddie ran straight into his mother's arms burying himself in her bosom, squealing happily. His mommy was home, finally after a long week at the doctors. "Are you gonna stay now Mommy?"

She brushed back his brown curls her opalescent eyes shimmering happily into Maddie's the perfect replica of her own. She smiled, flushed at the cheeks like always. "Of course I'm staying. I live here." She said in her sweet bird song voice.

"Ok!" Maddie said happily as he took hold of one of her bags, the least heavy, and marched towards the house. "Im'a take this to yours and Poppy's room, ok Mommy? And then I'm gonna get your 'Mother Goose' book and read it to you."

"Oh?" She laughed. "You're going to read to me?"

"Yeah I been practicing with Aunty Ayame and Hanna. Hanna's so smart!" Maddie said before running into the house.

Sasuke wrapped an arm around her middle, his long fingers caressing her beyond swollen belly-she'd be delivering very soon. He leaned his head forward nuzzling her hair with a serene smile on his face. "God, I missed you."

"Hmmm, I missed you to." She said, shutting her eyes for a moment. Her hand rested on his at her belly and she giggled at the firm hard kick from inside hitting his resting hand. "I think she wants to say _'I missed you too Poppy.'_"

"No I think she said '_Daddy'_. I think I like that term better, but I suppose '_Poppy'_ is fine too." He whispered. They were never ones to be opened loving, at least not in front of others. When they were dating they rarely held hands in public, merely, when they was side by side their fingers would brush together in slow deliberate caresses and their kisses were always short and incredibly chaste but passionate and sweet at the same time.

But they'd been apart form each other despite the almost daily hospital visits, they'd slept in separate beds for seven days neither sleeping well without the sound of the other's heart beat of their heavy breathing-so it was ok to be openly loving openly.

"Mommy are you gonna come inside of stand there getting Poppy cooties all day?" Maddie asked from the front window. In his lap already sat 'Mother Goose' it's cover opened and waiting to be read.

"Coming!"

Hinata and Sasuke always had time for more intimate moments anyway, she thought blushing. Right now her six year old was vying for her undivided attention.

She was home.

* * *

"I never remember being that active and excited when I was a kid." Sasuke said as he pulled his shirt off and inspecting the ketchup stain on the sleeve. 'That's never coming out.' He thought depositing it into the empty hamper.

"Oh I don't know, from what your brother says, you and Maddie are clearly very much alike." Hinata was already tucking in bed wearing nothing but a lose powder pink nightgown that barely reach mid thigh, despite how embarrassing the think piece of material it was it was the most comfortable thing to sleep in, and comfort overruled embarrassment. "He's smart and funny and sweet just like your daddy." She cooed at her belly missing the deep flush at her husband's cheeks.

"Yes but he is rather shy around new people…like someone I know." Sasuke said as he kicked off his slacks, leaving them a pile where he stood in nothing but boxer briefs. "Oh but wait, aren't you like that?" He teased as he walked to the other side of the bed, tucking himself under the thick quilt.

"Oh?" She asked, hugging her body pillow trying to find a comfortable position before pausing in her movements quite suddenly.

"What?" Sasuke asked with a smirk on his face still teasing.

"Um…I…think…oh and I just got home too…" She sounded excited, shock and a little disappointed. "And now I have to go back to the hospital."

"What?" Sasuke asked, confusedly. His gray eyes were wide in curiosity his mouth in making an o.

Hinata giggled. Sasuke, cold, callous Sasuke, her sweet heart her other half…could be so incredibly dense sometimes it was adorable. She leaned forward and kissed the tip of his nose, giggling at his boggled expression. "It's time."

For an agonizing moment Sasuke's expression did not change, in fact he didn't appear to be breathing at all and his face became incredibly pale.

"Oh…"

"Oh?" She teased.

"Now? Like RIGHT NOW she's coming?"

"Yes."

Suddenly Sasuke was out of bed, almost leaping towards the closet as he searched for her overnight bag and then attempted to get dressed himself.

As he pulled various shirts on, apparently forgetting he was not wearing an pants, Hinata was calmly dressing herself. She was just pulling on a light sweater over her blue sundress when Sasuke finally paused in his movements and stared at her.

"Um…do we take Maddie or call Mrs. Okazaki to watch him?" Sasuke was wearing a loose green sweater and had his black slacks pulled up at mid thigh.

Hinata laughed.

"Bring him with us. He'll be able to watch you while I'm having the baby."

"Are you saying that I am incapable of watching myself in an important situation?"

"No-I'm saying you're incapable in watching yourself _right_ _now_." She groaned suddenly in obvious discomfort placing a hand at the small of her back. "C-can you call Neji-he and my father have been just over the moon about this pregnancy you know."

Sasuke muttered darkly. He didn't much get along with the Hyuuga men-though Hiashi was much easier to deal with…sort of. "What about your sister?"

"Hanabi's away for winter break with friends. She won't be here." She eased herself on the rocking chair that sat near the bed. "Oh…I think we should go now…ow…"

With that set Sasuke raced to Maddie's room at a speed Hinata hadn't seen since they were both in middle school.

* * *

Itachi Uchiha was seating in the white sterile waiting room just outside of the delivery room where Hinata was delivering her baby and where Sasuke was currently experiencing his first coronary. Maddie was seated in Itachi's lap snuggled in the small blanket Ayame had insisted Itachi bring with him for the boy. He wondered, idly, if Ayame would wake the girls and bring them to the hospital to see their cousin and aunt and crazed uncle but he doubted it.

Not only was it a school night but Ayame was also close to delivering herself was resting, blissfully sleeping in their big bed at home that Itachi found that he himself was fantasizing about it. Ah, the things he did for family…

'_Wasn't that what Uncle Minato had said the day Sasuke was born?'_ Itachi thought as he peered at the blond man seated across from him, his own son almost identical to him, snoring loudly with his arms crossed blissfully unaware that he was being gawked at by Neji, Hinata's older cousin, and Neji's _'wife'_ or whatever one would call Gaara…_'It's all so confusing…'_

The red head was holding his five year old daughter, from a previous marriage to a _woman_. Mona looked nothing like her mother, or from the picture of the woman Itachi had seen but then it didn't matter, the woman was dead and her father, now married happily to another man, barely mentioned her. _'So very confusing…'_

He looked back at his sleeping nephew and smiled warmly suddenly reminded of the day Sasuke was born. Itachi had been five years old…

---

'_Uncle I wanna go in there. Mommies screaming at Daddy and saying really bag things and Daddy sound like he's in pain!'_ Itachi said from his Uncle's lap-well not really his uncle more like close friend of the family. Minato Namikaze had been around Itachi his entire life so it wasn't so odd that he was called Uncle.

But his Grandmother didn't like it too much-not like Itachi cared. He was five, a grown up. He could call Uncle Minato Uncle as much as he liked.

'_But it's scary in there!'_ Minato's blue eyes were wide as he made a comical face. Itachi giggled. _'Right now they're taking the baby outta your Mommies belly and well…it hurts.'_

'_Hurts Daddy?'_

'_No. Why would you think that?'_

Itachi had tilted his head to the side in confusion. _'Cuz Daddy's the one that sounds like he's hurting…hurting real bad.' _Itachi brought one pudgy finger to his chin in thought. _'Are you gonna be in pain too when Aunt Kushina had her baby?'_

'…_Uh…'_ Minato looked dumbfounded, utterly surprised, amused and a bit scared. He sighed loudly. _'I sure hope not kid…man… the things I do for family.'_

Not too late after that there was a squeal, a baby's sharp cry into the world and Itachi found himself ushered into the room a few moments later where his mother, utterly exhausted holding a little white bundle in her arms. The bundle had been a red face baby boy.

'_Oh mommy he's pretty…'_ Itachi had said staring in awe at his new baby brother. He carefully caressed the baby's face with his finger amazed at his brother's smooth cheek.

'_You're a big brother now.'_ His father said, nursing a slightly swollen hand. But there was a smile on his face, proud and wide and his eyes were glimmering like he's been crying happy tears. _'Do you want to name him?'_

Itachi looked at his father, then to his mother and finally at his blond Uncle who nodded at him once then cooed at the baby in his mother's arms.

'_Um…how about…Sasuke?' _

'_Sasuke…? I love it.'_

Itachi could honestly say that it had been one of the best days of his life.

"Poppy is still with Mommy?" Maddie asked rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Yes but it will be over soon." Itachi kiss the boys curly head.

"Mommy's ok?"

"Of course."

* * *

He couldn't hear anything except Hinata's breathing and couldn't register anything except the doctor's movements and an odd serene white light that must have been coming from the bright lights overhead. This was different from Maddie's birth-by far this was almost torture. The long hours of waiting, dilated enough, not enough, the searing pain, shots, pushing…with Maddie there had been an incision and there he was in all his squealing glory as he was cleaned and placed in Sasuke's arms.

But now Hinata was giving birth the natural way screaming in pain and awake. Gloriously awake and aware that she was having their baby and not asleep and dreaming and missing out like with Maddie like before.

"Oh God…! I…can't I cant…"

He kissed her damp head, at the temple so happy despite his hand aching as she squeezed tighter. Entranced at what she was doing this incredible woman was having his child again and he couldn't be more in love with her if he tried.

He wondered what the twelve year old him would have said if he would have been told that the shy quiet girl who was in love with his cousin would one day have his children…he could only imagine his twelve year old self fainting dead away in shock.

"I love you." He kissed her temple again as she screamed harder giving another push.

And then there was a nose, one singular sound like music to his ears filling his heart with nothing but warm love.

"It's a girl."

His daughter had come home.

---

Maddie was asleep in his mother's arm who, also exhausted, was soundly dreaming. The hospital bed was small but Maddie was tiny even for a six year old and easily fit there perfectly. The room was dimply lit and the tiny couch was occupied by a sleeping Itachi and little red haired Mona in his arms as her father's had excused themselves to have a meal in the cafeteria with Naruto and his father.

And there Sasuke stood standing to the brightest light staring down at the bundle in his arms. Her eyes were opened, oddly, staring straight into his face almost entranced as much as he was, were the color of gray storm like his. Her skin was of course rosy but pale like her mothers and she was smiling.

He couldn't believe it, the most beautiful woman in the world was in his arms smiling at him. Such a happy baby, he thought. Her name was very appropriate. Kioko, 'Meets the world with happiness', that was certainly true.

"Kioko…" He cooed lovingly at the baby before looking at his sleeping wife and son. Sasuke imagined that this was how his father felt when he was Itachi were born-he could almost feel the love the swelled within him and wondered if it was more or less what his father felt. After all, he had never known any other couple so in love.

* * *

A few years later…

"Wait up!" Short legs pushed forward a bit faster. The white sandals were a bit dirtied because of the dirt path and her pink dress had some grass stains but she didn't care. Kioko pushed on trying to reach her big brother who was now leaning at the old oak, picnic basket in one hand while holding Mona's hand in the other.

"You're so slow." He said, letting Mona go much to her frustration, and musing Kioko's hair.

"And you're a stupid teenager, Madara."

He shrugged. Maddie was tall for his age, easily almost six foot despite being just fifteen and was quite handsome. His olive skin looked golden in the sunlight and his curly brown hair was thick and soft making his sharp almost stern face appear cherubic. His milky eyes were cold sometimes but right now were warm as they gazed at his ten year old sister as she fixed her short midnight blue hair.

"Hn. Lets go."

"Aw aren't you going to hold your girlfriends hand?" Kioko teased with a glint in her gray eyes. There was a cheeky smile on her face.

"I was helping Mona down the rocky path otherwise she'd fall and get dirty too." He looked pointedly at her dirtied clothes. "Besides she's too young for me."

"She's thirteen that's not too young."

Mona huffed and stalked away from them, he long red hair catching the suns rays like fire leaving Maddie entranced his white eyes staring almost through her. She turned her attention to them for a moment, her deep teal eyes glinting and her plump red lips pouting. "Whatever, Maddie isn't my type anyway."

"Let's go-everyone's waiting anyway." Maddie said as he pushed the thoughts of Mona into the back of his mind and stalked passed them, though his cheeks were pink.

"Hey guys!" Anna shouted from the house as they came into view. She was sitting in front of a black haired little boy with shimmering brown eyes, who braided her hair lovingly. Noticing Maddie, the boy let the thick braid fall from his hands and ran towards them, flinging himself at Maddie who was already well prepared to receive him.

"Hey Yasuo." He patted the child's head. "Being good for uncle Itachi?"

"He's never good he's a icky boy!"

"Nu-uh Kioko. You're just a stupid."

"No you're a stupid!"

Seeing this as a chance to flee, Maddie walked around Yasuo toward his cousins and now Mona, who sat beside Kanna and Hanna who was now braiding Anna's hair. "Where's Poppy?"

"He's inside with your mother." Kanna said smiling-the exact image of her mother.

Passing his cousin he walked inside to find his father and mother leaning over a basinet, cooing lovingly at the infant inside. "Is Eiri awake from his nap?"

"Yes." Hinata said as she scooped in dark haired infant into her arms. "Your brother is quiet the troublemaker. He's been crying for you this whole time. I think he wants you to take him into the garden."

Maddie nodded, taking the baby into his arms. Eiri looked up at him and gave a toothless grin his dark eyes shimmering contrasting perfectly again his milky pale face like his dark hair. He looked like their grandmother.

"I'll be right back then."

Later that day, as the sun began to dip in the horizon he looked out into the veranda. Maddie sat there with Eiri in his arms and Kioko's head resting in his lap, she was holding an orchid from Itachi's garden.

"Don't you feel it Maddie?" Kioko suddenly asked her older brother. She sat up and the wind caught her midnight blue hair beautifully. "Nature…the smells and sounds…it's a wonderful thing isn't it?"

For an agonizing moment he saw his mother there in Kioko's place and Maddie as himself all those years ago. He could smell the earth it's scent toiling in his nose and her sweet perfume.

"It is…you know, this was grandmother's favorite place or so I hear."

"And it's Poppy's favorite place too?"

"Yes." Madara nodded at his younger sister Kioko and the baby in his arms giggled.

The vision of the past was gone, the hurtful memories of his mother's death of her depression and anguish had left him and now there was nothing but happy memories. Of how it could have been with his mother and while he was sad he didn't let it bother him too much.

Watching as Hinata joined their smiling children he finally understood his mother and the eventuality of change.

Nothing is the same forever.

The wind picked up and carried the familiar scent away like a ghost finally set free and Sasuke realized that change was just as inevitable as that same breeze.

**THE END**

-

**DONE! It was really long huh? It might not have had the same essence from the beginning but well it's been a while and I made a major change.**

**Originally Hinata was supposed to die. I know that's horrible but…I wanted to change it and make her live.**

**Anyway-review if you have question and I'll answer as best as I can.**

**-JA!**


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